Semper Fi ,Do or Die
by Gazman333
Summary: Sargent Gary Heights, a Marine with a dark past has found himself thrown into the middle of the battle for New Mombasa. He must forget his past in order to keep his squad together long enough in order to defend Humanity's own homeworld against the Covenant.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there readers, this is my first story. I have written stories before but nothing where it was published and read by others. Be honest in your comments, I don't mind. I need criticism to improve.**

Enjoy friends.

**Semper Fi, Do or Die.**

_UNSC Forward unto Dawn in orbit over Earth. Year: 2552  
__Sargent Gary Heights. UNSC Marine Corps._

Sargent Heights violently awoke from a nightmare. He looked around and gathered his surroundings. He was in his barracks, surrounded by his squad. He rubbed his eyes, stretched and picked up his tablet. He opened up his squad roster to go over the new recruits getting folded into his command.

_"UNSC 405__th__ Marine Infantry Division" _  
He scrolled to the "Alpha Company" tab and went to "First Platoon" His eyes scanned the roster until he found "First Squad" he checked the names on the roster. Three Marines joined First squad, fire team Charlie.

_Private First Class John P. Omen.  
Private First Class Stacy M. Gilbert.  
Corporal Alex A. Romero._

He read over their files. Private Omen, age nineteen, Caucasian. He was born in a UNSC Colony that was destroyed by the Covenant three years ago. His father was part of the local militia trying to fight the Covenant. His father went MIA so his Mother and two sisters evacuated the colony and made it to Earth. Last year he signed up for the Marines and went through Basic Training; he graduated average in his division. He's never fired a weapon outside of basic. Private Gilbert, age nineteen, Caucasian. A farm girl whose grandparents farmed on Harvest before it was glassed back in 2525. It was one of Humanity's first contacts with the Covenant. Her father fought in the second battle of Harvest and went MIA. Her mother died of brain cancer two years later. She joined the Marines and graduated basic training before she went on to Marine Sniper School. She is a very skilled marksman. Finally there was Corporal Romero, twenty two years old, African-American; the only one of the three Marines joining his squad today who's been in combat. Born in Los Angeles on Earth, he joined the Marines at eighteen. He fought in the battle of Sargasso and was one of the lucky survivors to make it out in time. He was promoted to Staff Sargent just like Gary but was busted down to Private after he got in a fight with an Officer. He was stationed aboard one of the Orbital Defense Platforms on Earth before he requested to join Gary's squad. Gary put the roster away and looked around. The rest of the Marines were beginning to wake up. Staff Sargent Dick Pyle jumped up and yelled "Okay Marines, Morning PT let's go move it." The squad got up, changed into PT gear and marched to the gym. During PT Gary went through the exercises. He looked up at Staff Sargent Pyle who was leading the exercises. He was in charge of his whole squad while Gary was just in charge of Fire Team Alpha. Gary was alone due to his fire team still getting folded into service so he kept quiet while the rest of the squad exercised. First Squad consisted of three fire teams, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie. First Squad was part of Second Platoon of Alpha Company, Second Battalion, and Four Hundred and Fifth Marine Infantry Regiment. The platoon was usually called Alpha Two Four O' Five. Once PT ended Sargent Pyle ordered Gary to meet his new team. They were being brought in via Pelican to hangar bay two. Gary walked down the hallways towards the Hangar. He looked out a window and gazed over Earth and the home fleet orbiting the planet. He was aboard the UNSC Frigate Forward unto Dawn, part of the Home Fleet in orbit around Earth. The Dawn is the only frigate to serve as a flagship. Suddenly he heard talk about how the Master Chief was here in the fleet. He brushed it off as just rumors; he heard from other sources that Master Chief died on the first Halo ring. He kept walking and found his way to Hangar Bay Two and waited for the Pelican to bring him his new team members.

**Hey Guys that was the first chapter. I hope you liked it. I went through it looking for typos and issues but if you guys find anything let me know. I researched UNSC Military organization and the Halo timeline trying to piece a story together (Halo Wiki is a hell of a website). I hope a lot of you guys see where my story is going to be. This story will take time because A: I have a job and B: I'm joining the Navy here in two weeks so for about eight weeks I won't be writing due to being in Bootcamp. But don't worry I'll write as much as I can and I'll write after Bootcamp okay guys? Keep on reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, the last chapter was pretty short so I'm going to attempt to make this one longer. I'm trying to write at night but I just picked up Grand Theft Auto Five so guess what I'd rather be doing other than write. But I started this thing so I'm going to make it as badass as I can. Also I noticed that I put the Master Chief as one of the characters on this. That was an accident, he will be making a cameo but it's not all about him. Anyway enjoy chapter two.**

_UNSC Forward unto Dawn in orbit over Earth. Year: 2552.  
Corporal Alex A. Romero. UNSC Marine Corps._

Corporal Romero awoke from his little nap, the Marine next to him woke him up to tell him they would be docking with the Dawn in five minutes. This Marine was a girl with blonde hair wrapped in a ponytail, short but really buff and she had the greenest eyes Romero had ever seen. Romero thought she was cute but intimidating. He grabbed his ruck sack and slung it over his back. The Pelican docked with the Dawn and the ramp opened to the deck. Romero and the female stepped off the Pelican. Another Marine walked up to them and introduced himself. "I am Sargent Heights, you Marines will be taking orders from me from now on."

"Yes Sargent." They both said.

Sargent Heights looked up and Romero, Romero was at least a head taller than the Sargent. "What's your name Marine?"

"Corporal Alex A. Romero. 67254-32316-AR." He said to Sargent Heights. The Sargent then looked to the young female. "And you?"

"Private First Class Stacy M. Gilbert. 22134-82771-SG." Stacy said, looking proud. She must be a boot, fresh out of bootcamp. Heights looked around confused.

"There should be a third man with you two." He said looking annoyed. "Great now I'm going to have to track down a missing Marine." He motioned Romero and Gilbert to follow him. They did as he asked and followed him out of the hanger. "Welcome aboard the Forward unto Dawn, although we just call her the Dawn." He explained before showing them their squad's barracks and mess hall. He also showed them where they did PT and the firing range. Heights looked at Romero. "Okay marine, I need to find this guy so you and Gilbert are free to roam the ship. Get yourselves a hot meal and shower then report to the gym for afternoon PT." Romero nodded.

"Sir, how many times do we PT on a daily basis?"

Heights just chuckled. "Four times marine. Before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner and before bed. We need you Marines to be in tip top shape." Romero smiled and said "Hoorah."

Romero took a shower first. Being stationed on a ship was the best part of the war he's ever seen. Food, showers, beds, it's the best. But he knew it wasn't going to last. Some god forsaken planet will send out a stress signal about being overrun by the Covenant and command would probably send the Dawn along with other ships in the fleet to reinforce. Because of the Cole Protocol, Earth still hasn't been found by the Covenant. Romero stepped out of the shower and looked in the mirror. His dark skin was covered in scars and his brown eyes stared back at him. His muscles were big and he took pride in his figure. He took his razor and shaved his face and head. Hair only annoyed him with his BDUs on. He exited the shower and got dressed in his T-Shirt and fatigue pants. Food sounded like a wonderful idea so he made his way down to the mess hall. Once he got his meal he scanned over the tables full of Marines and Sailors chatting away. He noticed one table that was full of hell jumpers. He steer cleared of them, he knew the hell jumpers kept to themselves a lot and didn't like to be bothered. Romero remembered he wanted to be a hell Jumper but he was denied due to his medical history. Somehow they found a hospital document saying he was claustrophobic and deemed him unfit for the ODSTs. He didn't have claustrophobia and he never saw a doctor about it so he had no idea how they found something like that. Maybe it was just a better way of telling him they just didn't want him. He kept looking for somewhere to sit. He saw a familiar face in the crowd and sat next to her. "Stacy, what's up?" He asked her. He could tell her startled her and apologized.

"Sorry there Corporal, I was dozing off. Can I help you?" She asked.  
"Nah it's cool, I was just wondering if I could sit with you." He asked her.  
"Yes you may Corporal." Stacy said.  
"Just call me Romero or Alex." He exclaimed and offered his hand.

She took it and shook his hand. Romero sat down at the table and started eating, Gilbert did the same. They ate in silence until Romero asked her where she was from.

"I was born in Harvest; my parents were not the best, my father was a Marine so he was gone all the time and my mom was a raging alcoholic. So my grandparents pretty much raised me on their farm for years. It was a very beautiful planet. It's basically how I got to be in good shape. Farm work is not easy work." She took a bite of her food and swallowed it. "One day my grandparents were watching the news. I don't remember much, I was only eight years old. Next thing I knew my grandparents were freaking out and packing things up. We were in a military transport craft and I remember the last I saw of my farm was a Covenant warship firing a large beam down on the ground that completely destroyed. The military craft that was going to take us to an evacuation ship got shot down and we crashed. I survived but my grandparents were both killed. A medevac ship came and picked up the survivors and took us to the evacuation ship. I met my mother there, she was really happy to see me. Apparently my father was stationed far away so he couldn't be here. After the evacuation my mother took me to earth to live. She died recently so I joined the Marines."

Romero was taken aback. He just asked where she was from and she gave her life story right there. He decided to give her his life story then, to even the score.

"I was born here on Earth. My family was heavily into gang violence in LA but I stayed away from all that as best as I could. But sometimes my family dragged me into it. One day I almost was killed in a drive by that killed my brother and cousin. That's when I decided to get my life together. My mother was totally against it but I joined the few and the proud when I was eighteen. I was stationed aboard a ship called _Into the Depths_ which was deployed to the planet Sargasso. The Covenant had invaded the planet and my orders were to evacuate as much of the civilian population as I could before the Covenant glassed the planet. I went above and beyond and saved Civilians from a crashed Pelican and brought them to a medevac, and then I helped take down two Hunters firing on the drop point. Finally I single-handedly killed three Elites in hand to hand combat with only my combat knife and the butt of my empty rifle. I was promoted to captain for about a day before I got in a fight with an officer who was trying to leave before all the civilians were on board. I was stripped of my rank and forced into the brig for ten years. But the UNSC saw potential in me so they didn't court martial me. After that I was forced to be stationed on the most boring assignments the Marine Corps had to offer me. Guarding posts for hours on end, cooking food, and cleaning Pelicans. Finally a few weeks ago they decided that I served my punishment long enough so they allowed me to transfer to a combat unit. I chose this one so here I am." He finished his story and continued. Gilbert took it all in and then stood up. "It was very nice to meet you Alex. Thank you for sharing your story." She said to him. He nodded "No problem Stacy." They continued to eat in silence.

**That one was definitely longer than the first, but still no combat. I know guys, I know this is boring but I promise it is coming. Trust me I want some action too but I'm trying to play it into the story. I want some back story before we just leap into mayhem. The next chapter is going to be great. See you guys. **


End file.
